Pastel sketch of a Cow Skull

  

Charcoal and Chalk Pastel on Canson 46 x 30cm

Having had a bit more time on my hands this last week or so I decided to wander

around my local landscape in search for suitable drawing material. In a nearby woods

I passed this cow skull picked clean by time. I couldn't resist sketching it, as it made 

such an attractive subject, despite its obvious tragic history. 

Thanks for looking :)

A sketch in red and black

 Permnent marker and red acrylic on canson  42 x 30 cm

For this work I was trying to reduce the piece to the bare essentials.

The whole work was done with just one permanent blackmarker and

a quick splash of red ink. While the previous animal paintings are 

decorative and reasonably complex to produce, this one I think has more

power in it due to its reductive nature.

Thanks for looking :)

Big cat

Chalk Pastel and Charcoal on canson 42 x 30

Some while back, until about ten years or so, I used to use only chalk pastels. 

I worked in this medium and nothing else for quite a long time

and then one day abandoned it, hardly ever touching it again. 

In the last few weeks I have been coming back to this medium.

Maybe everything works in a cycle and here I am again, back where

I started. Hopefully with a better and more thorough understanding 

of what makes a good design and how colors can work.

I must admit, it was nice to be back on familiar ground.

thanks for looking :)

Another Sparrow sketch

Pastel on tinted canson 30 x 25 cm

I managed to get in another quick sketch of my noisy companions.

Once again using the dry pastel and charcoal mix. This one is less detailed

due to the speed of these little guys and even at this level it's mostly from memory :)

Thanks for looking :)

Guests in my attic.

Recently I have had two pairs of sparrows take residence in my attic, These non paying guests are making quite a fuss in settling into the nests they have built between the ceiling and roof. I can hear them flapping and chirping while I work and every so often I can see their cheeky presence just outside my skylight windows. They make fine drawing models. I thought I might post a speedy pastel process for quickly getting them down on paper.

The first task is to draw the little guy, they are fast movers but sometimes tend to sit and doze on a branch when the sun comes out. So taking advantage of this I quickly work up a charcoal sketch of the bird just focusing on the values and proportions. When I have it down I  spray it with a little artists varnish as I dont really want the charcoal to mix with the upper layers of pastel I will be using later. This short wait for the fixitive to dry is useful too, as it gives me time to start another sketch.

 My next step is to lay in the basic colors, I am using a mix of pastels here and I am just getting an average of the color. As my model has since woken and flown, I am making my color notes each time he passes and lands outside my studio window.

 Once I have made a simple color fill I must then become concerned with detail, for this I am more inclined to use pastel pencils as they are easier control and they work well on top of the colors already laid in. I can take my time at this point as between my models and some photo reference, I'm pretty sure I can get the important details down. 

Finally then I have my finished drawing, I have used some very soft pastels on the top layer.

This has been a pretty fast sketch overall, just for fun.

Thanks for looking :)

Invisible to her prey.

Disposable ink pen on recycled paper 30 x 20cm

Here is the day five drawing from the drawing challenge, the subject was, "invisible"

I attached a digital border to this piece to contain the text as I thought the drawing

itself needed a bit of an explanation in order to satisfy the theme

Thanks for looking :)

Leo

 Ballpoint pen on cartridge  20 x 14 cm

Leo is a dog of no particular pedigree

Small and muscular and tough

His growl so deep it makes you shudder

and he pants like laughter

then walks toward you rolling his big head

which he lands in your lap

and closes his eyes and snorts and sighs

"I am your dog

Where are the dog treats?"

Thanks for looking :)

Drawing a Chicken..

Minen leads 2h and 6b only, with oil pitt for tone.

Thanks for looking :)